Recipes, reviews and recreation with the Madhouse Family - one parent, three kids, two dogs, all bilingual !

Sunday, 7 April 2013

Bar Keepers Friend Cleaning Products review

When I was offered the chance to review some cleaning products from Bar Keepers Friend, I'd never heard of them so I headed over to their Facebook page to find out some more about them. I was surprised at what I read on their About page : "Bar Keepers Friend is a range of specialist cleaning products first launched in the US in 1882. The original and best, BKF is 'once tried always used'." Wow, 1882, that's a product range with some serious brand heritage !

It has been relaunched in the UK with a new design and two new lines - new Power Cream and new Power spray. I received both of these, along with what appears to be their iconic product, Stain Remover.

I wanted to find out where I could put these products to the test and headed back to the original email for more information. I read : "BKF is great for specific jobs that require something a little more specialist and works a treat on stainless steel, glass, chrome, brass, copper, aluminium, porcelain, tiles etc. It can be used on hobs, work surfaces, burnt and tarnished pots and pans, sinks and many other applications! The presence of Oxalic Acid found in rhubarb gives Bar Keepers Friend the edge and it is this unique formulation that produces such a deep clean." OK, sounds like it's a great multi-tasking product that can be used pretty much anywhere then.

From looking around online, American bloggers seem to have zillions of "101 uses for Bar Keepers Friend" type posts. I love the story of how it came into existence on their website too : "Back in 1882 a chemist from Indianapolis noticed how clean and shiny his tarnished pot was after cooking rhubarb. Using an active ingredient that's found in the plant he made a talcum smooth cleaner and sold it to the city's taverns. It worked so well that it was called 'Bar Keepers Friend'." (That lack of apostrophe really bugs me, but that's just my teacher instinct kicking in !)

I started off with the Power Cream, described as "a superior cream formulation that cleans where others fail. Formulated for cookware, kitchens and bathrooms." I used this to give the kitchen a good once over and it did work well on getting the cooker, sink and table clean, even on the dried-on splashes on the hob.

I headed off to the bathroom with the Power Spray and had a go at the sink and bath tub. It got them nice and clean but to be honest, they weren't too dirty anyway, after giving them a deep clean with Viakal a few weeks ago. What I love about this product is that you can use it on everything, even glass, so I kept going, cleaning the windows and shower stall without having to swap over products half-way as I usually would. It's pretty good at removing limescale and water marks and it got the tiles behind the sink lovely and clean.

I wasn't quite so keen on the Stain Remover, but that's just because of the format - it is a powder that you need to rub on with a damp cloth (or you can make a paste with a little water for particularly tricky stains) which I found a bit messy to use. It reminded me of the Ajax scouring powder that my Nan used to use many moons ago ! That said, it did manage to wipe off fingermarks on the edges of the doors and even some felt tip pen scribbles on Pierre's door, which is pretty good going.

To be perfectly honest, I found them to be as good as my regular cleaning products and nothing more. I wasn't as totally blown away as many people online seem to have been, but maybe that's because I haven't found enough tough stains for them to tackle yet, so I'll have to look around and see what else I can use them on.

If you fancy giving them a go, don't move a muscle - I have an amazing giveaway coming right up where you can win a year's supply of Bar Keepers Friend cleaning products. Watch this space !